Ben Fish was the comfortable winner by nearly a minute as he came home in a time of 15.29, at the head of five Blackburn Harriers taking top ten finishes. In 4th place came Chris Davies clocking 16.47 and with it the V401st Prize, followed by John Horrocks in 8th position with a time of 17.31, Calum Holmes – who had run the Burnley 10k three days previously in 35.27 (3rd) – came home in 9th place (17.31) and V45 Paul Brindle in 10th – running a time of 17.43 which also won him the 1st V45 prize.

Photos Courtesey of David Belshaw (David’s Running Photo’s)

Ben Fish (201)

Chris Davies (158)John Horrocks (312)Paul Brindle (255)

Matthew Poole – in his first year competing for the Harriers – had another good race to place 20th in a time of 18.25. In the Series Standings Ben is top of the leader Board after Race 11 with Chris Davies in 3rd position and also in 1st V40 place, John Horrocks in 5th and Calum Holmes 7th, Matthew Poole 25th and Gary Pearse 42nd.

Matthew Poole (287)

Joanne Nelson and Victoria Mousley were at it again as they finished 1st and 2nd Women for the third race in a row – Joanne who ran a 1500m PB in the Northern League Division 1 Match last Sunday won in a time of 19.03 and 28th overall with Victoria in 43rd spot overall and 2nd Woman clocking 19.37. In 63rd spot came V50 Gary Pearse running a time of 20.50 with Amy Davies in 97th position and 1st Junior Woman with a time of 22.33 and followed by Lindsay Davies in 101st clocking 22.42. On the night Joanne won the Women’s V45 1st prize alongside Victoria winning the Women’s V35 prize.

In the Junior U11 / U13 Race of Boys and Girls – sixty nine youngsters took part in the race won by Trawden’s U13 Harry Smith in 6.47. The first Harrier home was U13 Matthew Smith in 5th spot running a time of 7.32 with U11 Theo Robinson in 14th place (7.49), U11 Harry Smith in 16th position (7.50) and U13 Hannah Davies in 25th place overall with a time of 8.15.

Next home came U13 Imogen Robinson(28th) clocking 8.18, U13 Alexander Brien (32nd) with a time of 8.22, U13 Emily Smithcoming home in 43rd place in her first race for the Club (8.58) and U11 Charlotte Smith in 54th (9.38). The U15/U17 Race saw Codie Dewhurst finish in 10th place out of the 30 strong field in a time of 11.32 with Daniel Smith in 16th spot clocking 12.24.

Trafford BMC – Tuesday July 23rd

Rob Warner, Tim Raynes, Tony Balko and Sam Gaskell weere all competing at Trafford on Tuesday evening in their respective events. Rob was in a stacked 1500m A Race with athletes having personal bests of 3.41 through to 3.49. In the end, just seven tenths separated the first 5 finishers with Rob in 5th clocking a seasons best time of 3.48.71 – just two tenths outside of his personal best – in the race won by Adam Craig in 3.48.02.

Afrer the Race Rob spoke to the Harriers about the evening saying that he was “Very happy with the race and the time, the season hasn’t gone the way I’d have hoped so far so it was really good to put in a good run and be competitive in a top class field! It was slightly slower than I expected through 700m, so I’m quite positive that a pb is there with a quicker start. It was a very close finish with the top 6 all within a second of each other, I may have slightly mistimed my kick and pushed a bit too hard down the back straight as the wheels started to fall off a bit in the last 100m!“

Rob Warner (271) Archive Photo

Tim was competing in only his second track race of the season following some time off with an injury – his first being in Division 1 on the Northern League at the weekend over 1500m. Tim went into this Race won by Emilie Cairess in 8.12.99 with an open mind and clocked 9.01.19 in 5th place out of a field of 18 athletes.

Tim spoke to the Harriers after the Race commenting that he “Went into the race without a particular plan in terms of splits, just hoping a decent time would come from racing those around me. It ended up being a tough slog in the heat. At the front, Emile Cairess hit a 61 on the first lap, which spread the field out early on. From then on I found myself in no man’s land for the whole race, as most of the field (myself included) progressively slowed throughout the race. Hopefully I will be able to have another crack at a 3k before the end of the summer.”

Tim Raynes Northern League July 21st

Sam Gaskell went into this Hammer competition with a personal best of 62.76m and had a very good night as he secured a new PB of 64.95m for himself, an improvement of over 2m with the 6kg Hammer.

Sam Gaskell (Archive Phot)

Tony Balko was also having a good night as he took on the Hammer (6kg) and Javelin (400g) – throwing 31.75m in the Javeling and 38.07m with the Hammer. Afterwards, Tony told the Club that “Despite competing on Sunday, training on Monday and feeling a little bit jaded last night, quite enjoyed the meet, tried a few new things that didn’t quite come off. Good to see Sam smashing it. Preparations are are on track for Project Venice 2019″.

Northern League Division One – Sunday July 21st

Match 3 in this years Division One took place in warm, slightly breezy conditions at Ellesmere Port – home of West Cheshire Harriers who along with Blackburn Harriers, City of York, Wigan, Team I.O.M and Wakefield make up the Division. The Harriers had won the first two Matches of the season and were hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins, but that wasn’t to be as our team were affected by holidays and injuries. Nevertheless, the Team did really well on the day in a very tight Match which was similar to previous Matches with West Cheshire winning with 405.5 Points, Blackburn Harriers in 2nd (366.5), Team I.O.M in 3rd (348), Wakefield in 4th (345), City of York in 5th (316) and Wigan in 6th place (292). The Harriers now lead the Division in advance of the final Match at Wakefield on Saturday August 10th with 17.0 League Points, with Team I.O.M in 2nd (14.0), West Cheshire in 3rd (11.0), Wakefield in 4th (10.0), City of York in 5th (7.0) and Wigan 6th (4.).

THROWS

The Throws athletes have contibuted hugely to our points total at each Match this year and none more so than in this latest Match which opened with wins in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ Hammer as Anthony Kentthrew a new PB of 45.63m and Tony Balko 33.07m. On to the Discus and it was a second new PB of the day for Anthony as he placed 3rd in the ‘A’ with 38.47m as Tony also placed 3rd in the ‘B’ with 30.90m. Finally on to the Shot Putt where Anthony took 4th spot (11.65m) and Tony 4th too in the ‘B’ with 9.82m.

Anthony Kent (Hammer)Anthony Kent (Discus)Tony Balko (Discus)

In the Javelin, the absence of the teams ‘A’ Javelin thrower because of injury meant that Anthony Kent took over alongside Joe Pearse who last threw javelin in 2014 with Anthony not having thrown for a year in the event – but they both did really well with Joe placing 5th in the ‘A’ (35.29m) and Anthony 3rd in the ‘B’ with a throw of 33.07m.

Joe Pearse (Javelin)

In the Women’s Throws Anna Peers who like the Men has scored a huge number of points for the team, took on her usual events of Discus, Shot and Javelin as well as the Hammer to help the team with Charlotte Williams otherwise engaged in the European Championships. Annawas so close to all of her personal bests as she threw 37.24m in the ‘A’ Discus for 2nd spot, 39.99m for 2nd spot again in the ‘A’ Javelin and 10.44m in the ‘A’ Shot Putt (5th) – as for the Hammer, that is for another time!! Emily Taberner stepped up to cover Javelin in the absence of regular thrower Millie Coy and earning good points with a 3rd placed throw of 24.01m before throwing just short of her Shot Putt personal best with a throw of 8.52m (4th) in the ‘B’. In the Hammer she finished 6th with 24.28m. Teigan Fawcett doubled up with Anna in the ‘B’ Discus to place 6th with a throw of 18.57m.

Emily Taberner (Hammer) Anna Peers (Hammer)Anna Peers (Javelin)

SPRINTS

At the start of the day we had lost one of our senior sprinters to injury and then lost another one to illness on the day itself and another through injury on the day but, on the plus side, we had a return to competition from Ross Liddlewho had broken his leg and is now back training hard again and to U17 Ethan Downes who has also been sidelined for a while through injury. Brandon Zinyemba took 2nd spot in the ‘A’ 100m with 11.1 – the same time given to the winner – as Ross Liddle picked up the win in the ‘B’ Race with 11.5 in his first race since May 2018. On to the 200m and we had to swap Ross into the ‘A’ 200m because of another injury issue and clocked a very good 23.0 in 4th place and, as our 400m Hurdler – Solomon Brown was drafted into the ‘B’ race finishing 2nd in a very solid 24.00. In the 4 x 100m Relay – Triple Jumper Jonathan Gough led off on Leg (1) with Solomon Brown,Ethan Downesand Brandon Zinyemba completing the team in 4th place (46.2) – the same time as Wakefield who placed 3rd.

Brandon Zinyemba (1) 100mRoss Liddle (11) 100m

Ross Liddle (1) 200m Solomon Brown (11) 200m

A rather ill-looking Bailey Madden ran the ‘A’ 100m in 12.7 (5th) with Emily Warren clocking 13.6 in 5th in the ‘B’. Amy Wiggans was moved up to the ‘A’ 200m placing 6th with 26.5 which was an impressive new PB by a full second as Long Jumper Imogen Mansfieldtook on the ‘B’ race running 28.2 for another new PB by a full second in a time of 28.2 (4th). Chloe Bleeks, Emily Warren, Imogen Mansfield and Amy Wiggans ran a combined time of 53.60 to place 6th in the 4 x 100m Relay.

The 400m races were won in 49.1 and 51.8 respectiveley with Zac Howe running the ‘A’ for the Harriers in a time of 53.2 (4th) whilst 3000m runner U17 Matt Ramsden stepped into for the team to run the ‘B’ in 55.8 (4th) and his first ever competitive 400m race. The 800m had Zac Howeand Joe Gebbie teaming up with Zac clocking 1.59. 6 (3rd) in the ‘A’ and Joe Gebbie running a well judged race to win the ‘B’ in 2.02.8.

The 1500m had Dominic Walton take on Mark Bostock of Wakefield in the ‘A’ Race which saw Bostock kick virtually from the last lap bell, holding off Dominic who finished 2nd in 4.09.8. Great to have Tim Raynes back after injury who ran his first race since April this year in the ‘B’ clocking 4.11.1 to win. It was another double win for the Harriers in the 5000m as Ben Fishheaded off York’s Tim Stratton in the ‘A’ race winning in a time of 15.15.5 as Jacob Watson put in another cracking performance to win the ‘B’ in 15.48.3 and new 5000m PB by eleven seconds. Marc Hartley who has been carrying an injury ran the Steeplechase in place of another injured athlete and placed 2nd in the ‘A’ race with a good time of 10.15.5 as Joe Howe ran 10.58.8 for the win in the ‘B’ Race.

The 4 x 400m Relay was won in a rapid time of 3.25.6 by City of York as the Harriers came 4th with a combined time of 3.36.0 run by Dominic Walton, Matt ramsden, Joe Gebbie and Zac Howe.

Because of injuries and holidays Joanne Nelson, Ellen Sagar-Hesketh and Eleesha Charnley took on a huge amount on the day in the middle distance events and can’t praise them enough. Eleesha and Ellen teamed up in the 400m placing 5th in the ‘A’ (64.0) and 4th in the ‘B’ (64.6 )respectively. The same two then swapped round as Ellen ran the ‘A’ 800m coming home in 3rd in the ‘A’ with 2.28.1 as Eleesha ran another well judged race, kicking off the bend to win the ‘B’ in 2.24.4.

Back in 2016, Joanne, a V40 then, ran 5.12.68 in a Northern League fixture and now as a V45 she clocked a big new PB of 5.01.9 to place 2nd in the ‘A’ and a time which ranks her 3rd in the country in her age group! Ellen, taking on her third race had a solid run in the ‘B’ coming 3rd (5.42.6). Joanne was then out in the ‘A’ 3000m where she placed 2nd again in a time of 10.47.1 – her best time since 2016.

Joanne Nelson (1) 3000mJoanne Nelson (11) 1500m

And, after all this and having to consider losing the Women’s 4 x 400m Relay Team through injury, Joanne went and recruited Lindsay Davies who had finished her Officiating for the day to make up the numbers for the 4 x 400m where we finished 5th in a combined time of 4.45.0 for Lindsay Davies, Ellen Sgar-Hesketh, Eleesha Charnley and Joanne Nelson. Great Team Spirit!

JUMPS

Joe Pearse was so close to 2.0m in the High Jump knocking the bar off at that height by a feather touch of his vest in winning the event with a leap of 1.95m. Nick Smith finished 4th in the ‘B’ High Jump clearing 1.60m. Jonathan Gough and Fawwaz Mustapha paired up for the Triple Jump which saw Jonathan in 4th spot (11.80m) and Fawwaz able only to get one jump in because of injury placing 4th too in the ‘B’ with 10.25m. Jonathan leapt out to 5.59m in the ‘A’ Long Jump (6th) with Ben Branton finishing 2nd in the ‘B’ (5.24m).

U17’s Imogen Mansfield and Bailey Madden took on the Long Jump with Imogen getting 4.31m in the ‘A’ (6th) and Bailey 4.23m in the ‘B’ (4th). U17 Poppy Mae-Preece had a great start to her High Jumping as she cleared 1.40m in =3rd place in the ‘A’ – her first ever competitive High Jump – with Teigan Fawcett placing 3rd in the ‘B’ (1.35m). Middle Distance athletes Ellen Sagar-Hesketh and Eleesha Charnley took on the Triple Jump which saw Ellen come 4th in the ‘A’ with 9.17m and Eleesha 4th in the ‘B’ (7.99m). Poppy started off her day by eqalling her personal best in the Pole Vault finishing 3rd in the ‘A’ with 1.90m.

Solomon Brown ran a new PB in the ‘A’ 400m Hurdles of 58.2, some three tenths faster than his previous best as he came home in 3rd place. Nick Smith won the ‘B’ race after a battle going into the home straight, clocking 61.6 in front of York’s Craig Punder in 2nd (62.1). Ben Whittaker hit the high hurdles for the first time this season but still manged to clock 17.1 in 2nd place in the ‘A’ as Joe Howeshowed great personal and team spirit to get off the floor after falling at the penultimate hurdle to finish the race in 3rd. Chloe Bleeks gamely took on the 400m Hurdles to help the team, running 79.9 in 5th spot and then ran the 100m Hurdles clocking 20.80 in 3rd in the ‘A’ with Emily Warrenmaking a return to Hurdles after two years to help the team in the ‘B’ race running 19.90 in 3rd.

UKYDL – July 20th at Sheffield Athletics Stadium

The final fixture of the season for the Harriers UKYDL Lower Age Group team – covering U13 and U15 athletes – was fought out right to the end of the Match featuring seven Clubs: Blackburn Harriers; Hallamshire Harriers; Kingston upon Hull AC; Liverpool Harriers; Rotherham & AC; Stockport Harriers; and West Cheshire. The winning team on the day stayed in the Premier Division – West Cheshire – whilst the runners up, our own Blackburn Harriers will start the 2020 season in Division One. It was a really tough Match with Blackburn Harriers having to settle for 2nd place on the day by 48 points behind West Cheshire – with just 30 points separating the next four Clubs in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions.

Team Managers – Chris & Nicola Thompson – were delighted with the effort of the Team, not only in taking 2nd spot on the day, but throughout the season and told the Club “Well what can we say. Our Sheffield fixture was definitely an exciting one, we went there not expecting to win as we knew the competition was going to be tough but getting our points totals early on in the day showing how close the battle was it definitely upped the excitement. Sadly it wasn’t to be this time and we will return to division one next season.

We would like to thank all those who have taken part this year, we have had such a great bunch of kids who have really made the team what it is, their continuous support in helping out in various events has been excellent, without this attitude we wouldn’t have done so well.

We would also like to thank our team Official’s as they are also very important, not only do they help us score team points but without them we couldn’t have the events, big thankyou also to Sylvia for doing a great job collecting the coach money (and Amy from fixture one), every little bit that someone else can do really does help.

So with still a few more track events still to go before we head towards the end of the season we wish you all good luck in the hope your success continues and many more pb’s continue to come. All those who move up next year to the upper age group we know you will do well as you will be joining an already brilliant team so we expect to see some great performances there and as for the rest we shall hopefully be back to do it all again next year. And we would also like to wish Kyle a speedy recovery.

Thanks Chris & Nicola

There were some brilliant performances by the athletes at Sheffield, not least the individual 200m run by U15 Jayden Riley who when winning his race in a time of 23.2 broke a Blackburn Harriers Club Record that has stood for 37 years!. Added to this in the Team events, Jayden joined Samuel Mutomobo, Ben Boocock and Hayden Mercer to break the Club Record for the 4 x 100m Relays set back in 2009 clocking 48.38 in 2nd place and a time which was over a second quicker than the previous best Club Record. The U13 Boys 4 x 100m Relay Team emulated the U15’s as they too, broke the exisiting Club Record which had been set in the UKYDL in 2018 by over a second as they also placed 2nd on the day in a time of 55.46 – the team being Harrison Allcock, Ben Livesey, Ben Stratton and Daniel Nuttall.

And of course, just as valuable to the Teams competition always, are all the points and performances by athletes who don’t finish in the top three, who can come home in 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th place, all of which are extremely important and make a big contribution to the team. On the day there were twenty five new PB’s and not all of them registered by athletes in the top three places, many being won in those lower positions which demonstrates continuing improvement by these youngsters.

L-R Amelia Burton – Niamh Gater – Lucy Rishton

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Ingleborough – Saturday July 20th

One hundred and sixty four runners took part in the Ingleborough Fell Race at the weekend which has a race distance of 11k and 600m of climbing. The race was won by Hector Haines from the not so aptly names ‘Hunters Bogtrotters’ in 48.02 with a team mate in 2nd place clocking 48.12. Among the runners were two from Blackburn Harriers – Thomas Marchant and V50 John Orrell. Thomashad another very good run on the fells taking 12th place overall in a time of 54.18 with John, racing for the first time in a little while, coming home in 134th position with a time of 79.50.

Penwortham Bypass Running Festival 5k & 10k – Sunday July 21st

Daniel Balshaw joined over two hundred and fifty other runners in this locally organised festival of races over 5k and came home in 3rd place overall with a time of 18.00 behind the race winner Mike Toft of Lytham and Francois Rafferty of Southport in 2nd.

Pendle Festival of Running 5k – Saturday July 20th

V45 Paul Jeffriesalso entered a local running festival at Pendle and took 3rd spot on the day clocking 22.40. Paul said “this if the first time I’ve taken part in this race, aft this wednesdays final horwich jubilee race I felt i wanted another run out, I tried to pace it evenly and there was a few surprises (steep climbing) around the course, I finished in third place, 2nd male , first v45”.

European U20 Athletics Champions – Boras, Sweden- July 18 – 21st

Charlotte Williams won the National U20 Championships at Bedford in June to gain automatic qualification for the European Championships held last weekend in Sweden where she put in another very good performance. Going into the Championships as British ranked No. 1, Charlotte qualified for the final after her first throw in Sweden with a distance of 61.01m. In the Final she came agonisingly close to a medal as she finished in 4th position with 61.24m – just 75cm away from the Bronze Medal.

A delighted and very positive Charlotte spoke to the Club about her Championships telling us that“Finishing fourth in the European championships as my first year in u20 is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. I competed against some of the greatest hammer throwers in the world as well as all the top in Europe. I went into the competition ranked 7th in Europe so finishing fourth a dream! I am so happy with my performance at such a big championships like this! Thankyou to everyone for the support over the past few days and everyone who tuned in to watch me! Also Thankyou to coach, parents and the club who have supported me in one of the hardest years of my life. Onwards and upwards. Next stop, British Championships“.

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Diamond League – Olympic Park – July 20-21st

Jess Juddand Holly Bradshaw were both compeating at the Olympic Park with Jess going in the 5000m and Holly in the Pole Vault – both athletes competing in top quality and world class fields.

23 athletes lined up in the Women’s 5000m Race which included some of the best women distance runners in the modern era such as Hellen Obiri and Sifan Hassan who broke the women’s world record for the mile only a week ago.

Jess Judd went into the Race with a personal best of 15.34.82, knowing that 15.22 was the ‘A’ qualifying time for the forthcoming World T&F Championships in Doha. Jess had a great race knocking a massive 18 seconds off her previous best time to set a new PB of 15.16.47, a time over 5 seconds better than the qualifying time demanded. Her time also moves her into No. 6 in the National Rankings for 5000m and afterwards she spoke to the Harriers about her race saying that she was “Really happy with my race, was hoping to hang around at the back and get dragged round but the front pack were just a little too quick for me 800m in so found a gap had appeared early on. When the pace began to slow in my group I knew I was going to have to take it on and just really dig in and hope for the best and luckily my strength came through and I got an world qualifying time and PB! Been a busy couple of weeks but well worth it!!

Archive Photo

The Games saw Holly Bradshaw mixing it with some iof the best vaulters in the world at the moment with the likes of Sidorova, Stefanidi, Silva and Kiriakopoulou all competing alongside Holly. In a wind affected competition Sidorova (4.75m) took the honours with Stefanidi (4.75m) in 2nd place and Holly in 3rd after clearing 4.40m and 4.55m at her first attempt before clearing 4.65m at her 2nd attempt.

After finishing in 4th place in Race (1) and 3rd place in Race (2), Karl Billington won Race (3) which moved him to the top of the Series Leader Board and winner of the 2019 Series. Karl won Race (1) in a time of 27.50, Race (2) in 27.34 and ran his fastest time of the Series so far in his win last night, clocking 27.13. Tom Blaney finished 3rd in Race (1) in 27.36, 4th in Race (2) (27.44) and 2nd in last night’s Race (3) with 27.40 – runs which move him into 2nd place in the Series. So a one – two for the Harriers on the night and a one – two for the Series overall. Third Harrier out on the night was V45 Paul Jeffries who crossed the line in 19th spot overall – clocking 33.28.

In the Junior Races – U11 Matthew Smith had opened up in the Series winning Race (1) in 5.33 followed by a win in Race (2) with the exact same time of 5.33 and had to settle for 2nd place last night in Race (3) clocking 5.40 which leaves him in 1st place and overall winner of the Series. Oliver Gill placed 4th in Race (1) in 5.44, missed Race (2) and in Race (3) last night, ran 5.46 in 5th position. 9yr old William Grundy was the next Harrier through the line in 10th place, running 6.07 after finishing 7th in Race (1) with a time of 6.04 and 6th in Race (2) in 5.58 which leaves him in 4th position overall in the Series and 1st U9. 8yr old Charlotte Smith ran a time of 6.49 to finish in 19th overall out of a mixed boys and girls race featuring 56 runners in total – she ran 7.44 in Race (1) in 33rd spot and 7.13 in Race (2) in 21st position which leaves her in 6th position for the Girls Series final standings and 2nd U9 Girl. One place above her (5th) in the Series is Tippi Francis with a 21st place in the first Race (7.03), 19th in the second Race with a time of 6.58 and 25th in Race (3) with a time of 7.01 and 4th U11 Girl overall.

Happy Birthday!

Rachael Gavin was celebrating her birthday in the only way a committed runner can – by running a race! So along with one hundred and seventy other runners she took on the Lancaster 10k on Wednesday evening finishing 30th overall and clocking a time of 43.49. The race was won by Lancaster’s David Brown in a time of 34.29.

English Schools Track & Field Championships – July 12th & 13th

The pinnacle of Schools athletics in England – the English Schools Track & Field Championships took place at the weekend in Birmingham involving some of the best young talent in the land battling it out for Medals and new personal bests. Amongst them were six Blackburn Harriers who had all qualified through their County Schools Championships — U17 Matthew Heywood – U17 Myah Booth – U17 Matt Ramsden – U15 Nicky Saunders – U15 Ben Boocock – U15 Jayden Riley.

All the training over the previous year has seen these athletes target this competition as one otheir main aims to do well. Matthew Heywood opened up his season in March with 46.08m at an Open Meeting and improved all the way through to the championships – posting a new personal best of 53.38 in a UKYDL Upper Age Group Match. In the Championships here he fell agonisingly short by just 4 cms from winning a medal as he placed 4th with a throw of 52.00m in the Inter-Boys Hammer – his third longest throw of the year to-date. Matt commented on his Championships saying “My 2nd time at English schools was an amazing experience. Going in ranked 8th and coming out with 4th is better than I expected however, I was only 3 cm off getting the bronze. Hopefully next year I can get the gold medal and England kit”.

Nicky Saunders – ranked 11th in the country fro Discus – and another one of the Harriers talented young throwers who won both Lancashire Ciounty and Lancashire County Schools Championships, came even closer to a Medal as she missed winning one by just 2 cms in the Junior Girls Discus as she threw 29.56m in 4th.

Myah Booth who had won the Lancashire County Championships and Lancashire Schools County Championships had a solid run in the opening round, clocking 12.16 in 4th spot to qualify for the semi-final where she ran 12.21 in 7th place. Afterwards, Myah spoke to the Club afterwards telling us that she “went into the competition hoping to make the semis and that’s what I did, knowing I ran decent times with a -4.8 headwind is promising!“

There were seventeen athletes lined up for the final of the Inter-Boys 3000m with Matt Ramsdenamongst them after he had qualified for English Schools by winning the Lancashire Schools Championships, the Lancashire County Championships at which, he ran a national standard time of 8.47.5. In the Race Matt clocked a time of 8.55.18 to cross the finishing line in 8th place. Post race, Matt spoke to the Harriers about his experience telling us “I had an alright race and finished 8th with a time of 8:55.18. I was expecting a better race but it was a good experience. Every part of my plan went wrong, I got isolated and I didn’t get off with the front group early on so I was straggling behind. But overall I had a decent run and it is something I can learn from and work on”.

Jayden Riley has had a fantastic season in 2019 – reaching number 3 in the U15 Boys 100m and number 3 in the 80m Hurdles nationally with respective times of 11.3 and 11.69, both of which are national standard qualifying times for English Schools. Going into the English Schools 100m he suffered an injury which meant he had to miss training and competition for a couple of weeks as he tried to make sure he got the Championships, which he did. In Round 1 Jayden clocked 11.47 in 4th place in Heat 2, missing qualification for the Final by just two hundreths of a second – a tremendous effort give the setback of the injury. Afterwards Jayden told the Club that “It was a fantastic experience,a real eye opener to the athletics world and just an amazing place to meet new people”.

Ben Boocock was over the moon to qualify for the Championships and went into them with a personal best of 11.9 in the 80m Hurdles, set at the Lancashire Schools County Championships. Ben was in Heat 1 and ran 11.91 – his second fastest time ever and of the season – to come home in 5th place, just missing out as a qualifier for the Final as one of the fastest losers. Ben told the Club later about his Championships, commenting “Thanks to everyone at the Harriers that encouraged me and helped me get there. It was a great experience and worth all the training I put in. Now I’m going to train even harder over the winter so I can go again next year”

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Burnley 10k – Sunday July 14th

One week after the famous Hendon Brook race where the Harriers provided the winner, women’s winner, first team and a number of veteran age group wins, they were at it again – this time at the tough Burnley 10k road race at Towneley Hall.

Great battle at the front of the race as the Harriers provided six of the first 12 runners home to take the 1st Team Prize with Ben Fish – 1st in 33.25 – finally edging out club mate Jacob Watson who had a fine run to come 2nd in 33.37.

Ben Fish Jacob Watson

There was another battle going on for 4th and 5th places between Ben Costello and Chris Davieswhich saw Ben just get the better of it in 4th clocking 34.57 with Chris in 5th in a time of 35.05 and a run which won him the 1st V45 prize.Then in 10th came Calum Holmes running 36.48 with V45 Paul Brindle running his first 10k since May 2018 in 12th with a very solid time of 37.33.

Ben CostelloChris DaviesCalum HolmesPaul Brindle

These results gave the Harriers Men the first two places in the Team prize with Ben Fish, Jacob Watson and Ben Costello in 1st place with 7 points and Chris Davies, Calum Holmes and Paul Brindle in 2nd with 27 points.

Next Blackburn harrier across the line was V45 Joanne Nelson – 27th overall – winning her second race in a week after winning Hendon Brook the week before and clocking a very good time of 40.20 on such a hard course to take the 1st Women’s prize and 1st FV45 prize as well. Victoria Mousley who is also running well at the moment and finished 2nd in the Hendon Brook race, came 2nd again today and 37th overall – with another good run of 41.19. Matthew Poole is in his first year of running and first year of competition for the Club and has done really well as can be seen in his finishing in 40th spot with a time of 41.22. Evergreen V50 Gary Pearse was one of twenty six V50’s competing in the race and even though he clocked 43.32 in 63rd spot he was still 10th in the age category which gives some idea of the level of competition in that age group category, the winner going under 39 minutes. Final Harrier home was Lindsay Davies in 99th in a time of 47.28 and along with Joanne Nelson and Victoria Mousley, won the Women’s 1st Team prize.

Joanne Nelson Victoira MousleyMatthew Poole Gary PearseLindsay Davies

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One hundred and thirty nine youngsters ran in the Junior races covering U7/U9 – U11/U13 – U15/U17 age groups. This is one of the features of road races these days – the appearance of hundreds of youngsters and we can only hope that they can be retained in the sport for the future.

In the U11/U13 Race the Harriers had 8 runners in it with Matthew Smith leading them home in 3rd place overall with a time of 6.25 followed by U13 team mate Oliver Gill in 5th running 6.36. Next across the line in 16th spot overall was U11 Theo Robinson and 3rd overall in the U11 category, with a time of 6.58 followed by U11 Girl Hannah Davies in 27th (7.16), U13 Girl Imogen Robinsonrunning 7.25 in 31st, U11 Boy Alexander Brien in 7.40 (40th) and with the same time of 7.40,U11 Girl Harmony Hacking in 41st with U11 Charlotte Smith in 60th (8.44).

Four Harriers contested in the U15/U17 Race which saw Jack Paget-Fowler have a very good run to come home as 1st U15 Boy in a time of 11.17 and 5th overall, followed by Codie Dewhurst running 11.42 in 9th spot, Daniel Smith placing 15th in a time of 12.28 and U15 Caroline Woodworth(23rd) in a time of 13.19.

Jack Paget-Fowler (77)Codie DewhurstDaniel SmithCaroline Woodworth

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And finally on the Track – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh ran a seasons best at the Sheffield Run, Jumps, and Throws fixture with a time of 2.24.74 in a mixed race in 5th spot (RESULTS)…………………..⇒

Ellen Sagar-Hesketh (150)

⇒…………….and in road racing – V60 and lifelong Blackburn Harrier – Tony Greenwood – was out at the Sale Sizzler recently in just his 2nd race of the year, clocking 19.56 and 4th in his age category. In February earlier this year he ran 89.11 at the Stockport Trail Half-Marathon, winning the V60 age category which shows that life as a competitive runner doesn’t end early or any time soon! Well done Tony. (Sale Sizzler Results)

World University Track & Field Championships – Naples

Jess Judd qualified for the 5000m Final in the World University Championships being held on Friday evening July 12th with a time of 16.27.46 in Round 1, the race being run in 25 degress and 67% humidity. Jess was 5th fastest qualifier overall with the Japanes athlete – Tomomi Takamatsu the fastest in a time of 16.19.61.

Fifteen athletes contested the Final on Friday evening – July 12th – which included the athlete with the fastest personal best of 15.26.76 – Tomomi Takamatsu – making her the favourite on paper. However, when it came to it, Jess ran a perfect race, never being out of contention and over the last couple of laps, started to wind it up, finishing with a devestating break on the final lap which took her 30 metres clear going down the back straight. It was a fabulous run on a great night for an athlete who never gives any quarter and one which, as she was giving it everything round the last bend, made your heart beat quicken, more than a touch, as she powered to the Gold Medal.

Afterwards, a very happy Jess spoke to the Harriers about her race saying “It was such a great race, probably the most physical I’ve been in. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and surging and I just wanted to stick to the plan to kick with 400m to go and it went perfectly. It meant so much to win and I’m over the moon!”

Jess after Winning the Final

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Northern Inter-Counties U15 / U17 T & F Championships

Middlesborough Sunday July 7th

Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Gtr Manchester, Humberside, Lincolnshire, Lancashire/IoM, Merseyside, North East Counties and Yorkshire were the Counties contesting these championships at the weekend.

A number of Blackburn Harriers athletes had been selected to represent Lancashire at the recently held Northern Inter-Counties T &F Championships held last weekend – U15 Hayden Mercer, U15 Ben Boocock, U17 Myah Booth, U17 Millie Coy, U17 Matt Ramsden and U17 Cameron Harris – all of whom helped Lancashire to place 2nd in the final league table – 426 points – with Yorkshire coming out on top – 550 points.

Myah Booth was selected for two events – 80m Hurdles and Shot Putt – taking 3rd place in the Hurdles with a time of 12.24 and going on to set a new PB in the Shot Putt with a distance of 11.51m in 4th place. Hayden Mercer ran in the U15 Boys 800m race coming home in 4th place overall, clocking 2.07.84 and just outside his personal best of 2.07.00. U15 Ben Boocock ran his second fastest time of the season as he finished 2nd in the 80m Hurdles in a time of 12.08.

Millie Coycontested the U17 Women’s Javelin and like Ben, finished 2nd with a seasons best throw of 36.95m. Cameron Harris was also on good form in the U17 Men’s Javelin placing 3rd with a distance of 52.10m – his second longest throw of the season. Matt Ramsden ran the U17 Men’s 3000m in difficult circumstances with confusion about his entry, and having no time to warm up other than run a few strides which wasn’t ideal, he did come through to finish 2nd in the race with a time of 9.09.40.

HARRIERS CALENDAR

Contact Blackburn Harriers

If you want to be involved in developing yourself as an athlete and want to become as good as you can be, why not join us at Witton Park on Training Nights.
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For all enquiries (11yrs+)
JAN BUCKINGHAM
(E-Mail)
07848-876393
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